engleski

State and Possibilities of Development Land Drainage Systems in Croatia

This paper discusses the level of development of surface and subsurface drainage systems and their importance for achieving optimal water regime in agricultural fields. Also, there are evidences of insufficient maintenance of these systems which caused their malfunctioning. This paper also provides description of regular annual maintenance activities and their associated costs. Public pressure on land drainage activities is getting significant in recent years due to its potential impact on the environment, especially on soil, water and biological diversity. In most of the European countries there are many ongoing researches aiming to find out a new approach to the development of drainage systems and their adjustment to increasing constrains and very restrictive legislation. The most important directives are Nitrates Directive (1991), FFH Directive (1992), Water Framework Directive (2000) and Flood Risk Management Directive (2007). Engineers are facing a challenging problem how to balance technical, economical and ecological tasks. The conventional channel design, conveyance and channel stability are now expanded with extra features such as non-uniform cross sectional profiles, meanders and inclusion of natural vegetation which increase the heterogeneity of depths and velocities and thus create diverse habitats. Subsurface drainage systems are considered to be the major paths of nitrates and phosphates to the watercourse and the possibilities of their development are within controlled drainage and subirrigation activities. In the future land drainage systems are going to change and develop in a more ecological way while intensive enlargement of drained agricultural area cannot be expected.

surface drainage; subsurface drainage; environment; maintenance

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